Every generation has a crisis. Every generation has a defining moment. Every generation has the ability to shape the fate and the attitude of the generation that succeeds them.
WWII was the "greatest generation". Men selflessly went off to war to repay the Axis for having the gaul to attack our shores. Women took the place of men in the workplace and helped to change the world.
Well the baby boomers, the offspring of the greatest generation, have been guiding this country for a while now and how will we judge them? Will the boomers be praised in history books or reviled?
my three paragraph limit means...more to follow.
There is a fine line separating the good from the bad in everything that has to do with our lives. Good & bad, right and wrong, faithful or faithless, morality and immorality. Basically, its all a matter of perception.
My perception of Ronald Reagan is that he was a semi-retarded two bit actor who had no business being in any level of politics much less being elected Pres of the US. A conservative's perception is that Reagan was akin to god, or at least G Washington and T Jefferson, and that he was the sole person responsible for crushing the USSR with his iron will and "shrewd" use of deficit spending.
My perception of the Neo-con revolution is that they can take their god-inspired "constitutional" interpretations and shove them up their bloated lazy asses. Their perception is that they are truly doing gods work and following his designs and that America is doomed without their paternal guidance.
My perception of George Bush is that he is an evil coke abusing alcoholic who, having never worked an honest day in his life, is totally out of tune with working Americans. While a GOP backer believes that GW is the "hand of god" and that he will protect us from the certain onslaught of Lebanese invaders; that he is the hardest working guy on the planet; that he is the one person on this rock who can make an ordinary glass of tasteless beer a magical occassion.
But what irks me more than anything is the fact that George Bush and the lackeys that kiss his feet and wipe his ass are so willing to endanger a soldiers life when they, and all those around them, have never seen war up close and personal.
I have never been to war. I have never killed anyone. Yet, I have this nice little theory that if one is a student of history; that if one has read about the horrors of war, looked at the photographs of the horrors of war, seen video of the horrors of war that they should be inclined to believe that all wars are fruitless; that all wars are insanity at its grandest; that truly "no one wins in a war." But to here Snidely McDumbBush and Donna Rumsfeld and Deferment Cheney say it, wars of aggression are noble; our young men and women are dying for a good cause etcccc.... Now, I am no anti-war guy but I'll be god-damned if I'm going to support a war for anything other than stopping a genocide (as we did in Bosnia, as we should have done in Rwanda, as we should be doing in the Sudan.), or because some other sovereign nation has invaded the US (excluding Texas---hey Maher kids the pope I kid all things Texas). Saddam was a jerk and deserved to be ousted. That said. HE IS. I don't care if Iran hates us for our freedom or our freedom fries unless they declare war on us and land troops in Rhode Island I don't want the sons and daughters of our nation killing Iranian's or dying by their hand.
The fine line lies between how history judged the Nazi's and how it will judge the current administration that is ruining the world. And yes I just compared George Bush's and his idiots to the Third Reich. And going further I will equate George Bush as being the modern day egomaniacal twin of Adolf Hitler.
The fine line is how the Woodwards and Novaks work to protect the integrity of Bushco intact and how the evil liberal elite works to bash them into ignominious historical footnotes.
I tell you this...if we invade Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, or Iran WWIII should commence and the world should be coming after us. The US helped establish the fact that following orders wasn't a viable excuse for Nazi soldiers. Well so too should this fiasco be judged. Americans have kept in line with the judgements of a madman and have fretted but a little about the treatment of POW's, the day to day lives of the Iraqi citizenry; while all the while enjoying movies and fastfood and new cars and new houses and wal-mart and ipods and every other extravagance that a nation at war should not be indulging in.
I'd make more direct references but I don't want to appear like I'm preaching. My view of the world is different than most and I'm not trying to impose my views on anyone. But I leave you with one question: Has our defining moment as a generation already appeared? and if so did we pass grade? and if so how will history judge us?
My view is that the baby boomers have failed this country. Clinton tried but did he do enough? The environment is constantly embattled by greedy politicians, greedy corporations, and a mostly uncaring public. The constitution is under attack and may be fundamentally and irreparably changed. Society had the chance to learn from the civil rights movement that all who breath the same air have all the same attendant rights as those that stand beside, before and behind them. Did it? Ask a gay or lesbian. Ask a black man or woman who has been called a nigger in the past thirty or forty years. The more we change the more we stay the same. The more we learn the more we doom ourselves to making the same mistakes. I don't have any answers but am looking for some. Got some?